The Art of Safety
by an Cheo an Glen
Summary: "Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it." ― Albert Camus. The rise before the fall for Peter Pettigrew.


JK Rowling owns all characters and locations.

* * *

He was safe, or so he thought as he knelt before the Dark Lord.

"I am the Secret Keeper of the property that is Woodside Cottage, Godric's Hollow; this is where you will find the Potters." A cold laugh filled the stone room giving permission for all the Death Eaters to begin cheering.

"Tell me Wormtail, what else and who else is protecting the Potters?" Voldemort had risen from his chair and had begun circling Peter's trembling form like a snake playing with its' prey.

"N-nothing my l-lord, the fidelius charm was cast this afternoon by L-Lily Potter herself, Dumbledore was not there so he did not add any protections of his own. Lupin is still trying to gather information from the werewolves as you already know, and Black has been given an assignment by the Order, he will be in Ireland trying to recruit help from the Fianna and Queen Niamh's fighters; he said he will check in with me at the end of the week, until then the Potters will be completely on their own."

Appreciative laughter broke out among the Death Eaters again, no one noticing the terrified tears that were beginning to pour down Peter's face. There was no turning back now, he had given James', his best friend's, location to the Dark Lord; James was going to die, his baby would be slaughtered and he highly doubted the Dark Lord would allow his wife a quick death. He had seen how the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord included, treated mudbloods like Lily Potter; she would be forced to watch her husband's and son's murder before she would be tortured to the point where she is begging for death and then and only then will she be killed. But that might not be quick either, he has known the Dark Lord to perform a severing charm on the wrists and elbows of his victims and left them to bleed out slowly, the only death suitable for those of unworthy blood. He couldn't help but imagine Lily dying slowly on the floor of Harry's nursery, James dead by the stairs and he felt … relief.

It would be over soon, the constant fighting, the resistance; the world will have to admit defeat with the fulfilment of the prophecy, the Ministry will fall but Peter will be safe from it, the Dark Lord guaranteed it when he began spying for him over a year ago.

"….. Halloween would be the best night, with the muggles reflecting on their inner monsters there will be no need for pretence. I already told you Bellatrix, I will be going alone; you and Rodolphus will gather a trusted group to stay in London and await my command. Once I give the word you will march on Diagon Alley, anyone who resists will be killed no prisoners on this mission, not until you get to Gringotts; kill the Head goblin but none of the workers, we all know how they get, they need to be shown who is in charge but press too hard and they won't be very forthcoming when we need them."

And that was it, he wasn't needed anymore, he had done his part. He was free; he shuffled out the chamber before transforming into a rat. This time tomorrow the new world will begin to rise and no one will know his part in its success; no one but Sirius. Yet Sirius should be easy to handle, everyone pretty much assumed the Potters would use Sirius as their Secret Keeper so as long as he got to Dumbledore and the Ministry before Sirius did, Sirius will be sent to Azkaban and no one will know the truth.

….

Ten days later Peter curled up in his new owners lap; Percy Weasley was absolutely ecstatic with how friendly this rat was, his parents while confused at their son's choice of pet, had no problem allowing him in the house. Peter was safe from everything now, he had shelter, food and comfort; his finger, or toe in the form that he is now, continued with its dull pain but he could handle it, it reminded him that he was alive while Sirius was now rotting in Azkaban.

It had been a very close call, Sirius had found him a lot quicker than he had anticipated causing him to need to think on his feet. When Sirius caught up to him he looked fit for murder, luckily for him, his mouth started speaking before his brain got over the shock.

"Why did you do it Sirius?! James and Lily were our friends and you betrayed them!" It did the trick and Sirius went into a moment of shock; during this moment Peter cast a quick severing charm on his finger before putting the want behind back and cast a Bombarda Maxima destroying the whole street. He quickly transformed and scarpered away to sound of Sirius' manic laughter; it had taken him three days to travel to the Burrow, keeping to the magical community so he could keep up to date with how everything was transpiring, with Voldemort gone Peter now had an army of enemies. However he did get a burst of triumph when news reached the Prophet that Sirius had been sentenced to Azkaban.

And here he would stay immersed in the magical community, he was there when Ginny Weasley took her first steps and the twins took that as their que to try and teach her to dance. He witnessed the sheer happiness of Molly Weasley when Bill was awarded Head Boy and a year later when Charlie became Gryffindor's new quidditch captain. He was able to enjoy the comforts of Hogwarts when Percy arrived for his first year; he particularly enjoyed playing a few tricks on Snivellus during Percy's Potions classes from dragging ingredients away and hiding them on Snape and adding more ingredients to his cauldron.

His chest did give a painful tug when his new owner, Ron made his first school friend on the Hogwarts Express; he had to remind himself that this was not James and it was an impossibility that his son would remember the honouree Uncle that could turn into a rat.

…

As the years went by the fear that had imbedded into Peter receded, he enjoyed his comfortable life of no problems – other than the disastrous journey to Hogwarts in a flying car. Yes, life was going exceeding well for Peter, he felt nothing could wrong as he sat on the hotel table in Egypt when Mr Weasley gave a heavy sigh and laid down the Morning Prophet:

 **AZKABAN BREAKOUT:  
CONVICTED MURDERER  
SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES**


End file.
